The present invention relates to a process control apparatus for digitally controlling a process.
In a conventional process control apparatus, a transfer function of a process is identified in accordance with an input signal (control variable) to the process and an output signal (controlled variable) therefrom. PID (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) parameters are then determined in accordance with an identified transfer function, thereby controlling the process by using PID parameters. The process is assumed to be a single input/output process when the transfer function is identified. In other words, the conventional process control apparatus serves only as a single loop controller having a single control loop. However, in practice, many processes function as multi-input/output processes. In this case, if a one-to-one correspondence is established with respect to an input/output pair (i.e., one input influences one output), single loop controllers corresponding in number to inputs or outputs are provided to control the multi-input/output process. However, general multi-input/output processes cannot be controlled by a plurality of single loop controllers corresponding in number to inputs or outputs.